|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Bracket Racing Basics
Based on what I know or think I know about Drag RacingTo someone who has never been around bracket racing it can be very difficult to understand. I am going to attempt to explain the basics, for the people who are just starting out. Whether you want to be a racer or spectator you may want to understand the basics. Sometimes at the track, the announcers will explain how things work, or try to explain, even if they know what they are saying it does'nt seem to come out right. And most people are looking around saying What the H*?/ is he talking about. I hope you get more out of this than a blank stare. If not, go to the races a couple times then read it again.
Bracket Racing or E.T. (Elapsed Time) Racing allows almost anyone to race on an even playing field. It is the most competitive form of drag racing in the world, with the largest number of competitors. Most rules are safety related. The cars are split up into classes, mostly dependant on how fast the cars run in the 1/8 or 1/4 mile. With the rules varying for the different classes. At our track there are 4 classes Pro, Modified, Street,and Jr. Dragster. Street class is a trophy class for vehicles driven on the street. Modified is for race cars or fast street cars, and are allowed slicks,open exhaust,and more, without all the bells and whistles of a Pro class car. Pro is generally your fastest class, an all out race car where anything goes. All must follow all Sanctioning Body rules. Jr. Dragster is a class for kids, ages 8 to 15. Where they race a 1/2 scale dragster with a 5hp. Briggs & Stratton engine.
OK, here's the basic principles. At the beginning of a race you are given TIME TRIALS usually 3 or 4, which are used as practice,and to see what kind of times (ET's) your car runs. You use those time trials to make an educated guess as to what your car will run the next time. which is the 1st round of eliminations. You take your educated guess, in seconds and write it on your window. This is called your DAIL-IN. (example: 8.52) In eliminations, when you compete against another car, the computer operator in the tower puts both cars dail-ins into the computer, which subtracts the times and lets the slower car have that much of a head start. In theory if both cars leave at the exact same time each ones green light comes on, (REACTION TIME), and runs exactly what their dial-ins are, they would hit the finish line at the exact same time...a tie. This never happens. Reation Times vary, and your car may run slower or faster than predicted. Beside I think the timing equipment goes back 5 decimal points ( 8.52000)
Sounds simple right? Don't go racing just yet. Although you do have to cross the finish line first in order to win. You probably figure you can just put a dial-in on your window, alot slower than your car goes, get a big head start and win. Not quite. If you run quicker than your dail-in YOU LOSE. This is called a Breakout. If you dial 8.52 and run 8.519 your going home. In other words, you want to run exactly what your guess is or slower. If you guess quicker than what the car will run, you wont be able to run fast enough and the other car easily beats you to the finish line. You Lose. If you guess slower than what your car will run, you get to the finish line first, faster than the other guy, but take a chance of breaking out. if so, You Lose.
There are alot of different situations which may occur. Like double breakouts. In this case the car that breaksout the least wins. How can you not cross the finish line first and win? If the other car breaksout, breaks out more than you, leaves before his green light comes on on the Christmas Tree. Called a red-light, or crosses the center line of the race track.
So now you are wondering, Whats it take to win. The best piece of advice I can give is PRACTICE. It's the same as any other sport, Even stick and ball sports. If you want to do good you gotta practice. For instance I took up golf a while back. It took me a while to learn the basics, then I started working on my swing. I think I know what to do, I keep my head down, eyes on the ball, shoulders parallel, firm grip, elbow in, and swoosh. I'm in the water. I know what I did wrong as soon as I hit it. But trying to do it right is task all by itself. Just try not to get frustrated. They say in drag racing you have to get beat about every way you can before you can win. And I believe it. But the feeling of that first win more than makes up for it.
TIME TRIALS
The time Trials are a very important time at the races. This is the time for you to see how consistent your car and yourself are on that particular day. If you are just starting racing or have made alot of changes to your car, you may be better off going to a Test and Tune. Which is usually on a different night than a race night. You will get more practice passes and it's cheaper.
The main thing to getting your car consistent is, you must be consistent. Do everything the same, everytime. from the time you stay in the burnout, to the way you get on the brakes after the finish line. There are plenty of varables out there, the difference in lanes, the weather, track conditions, without you adding to it. If you do these things the same every time it will get to be so repetitious you can do them without even thinking. You'll need the brain power at the finish lineREACTION TIME
Before we talk about Reaction times lets learn the Starting line. The Starting line is composed two pair of light beams. Usually infra-red, two for each side of the track.and are linked to the Christmas Tree. The first being the Pre-Stage, the second being the Stage. When the car inches forward and breaks the first beam, the top lights or pre-stage light on the tree lights up on your side. When you break the second beam the stage light lights up on his side. This insures both cars are even. On each side of the Christmas Tree along with the Pre-Stage and Stage lights are 3 Amber lights, 1 Green light, and 1 Red light. Each Amber light comes on half a second apart, in a downward motion, then the Green. Thus making a .500 light a perfect light. A timer starts when the third Amber light comes on and stops when your front tire leaves the beam on the starting line. If your tire leaves the beam .001 sec. before the green light comes on you have a .499 Red Light. and you are disqualified. A common misconception many first time racers make is that a slow reaction time will effect your ET. This is not the case. There are two separate timers. The ET timer starts when your tire leaves the beam, and stops when it breaks the beam at the finish line. So you could set there for 5 min. and it would not change your ET.DIAL-IN
The Dial-in is the time you put on your car for everyone to see, it is the ET that you think your car will run. It can be anything you want,and can be changed as many times as you want, at any time you want, until you pull across the line at the head of the staging lanes, for that round of eliminations.
I don't want to get to far from the basics here but this is the fun part. If you don't think your ready for this much info, or get confused, go racing a couple times, then come back to it later.
There are few ways to dial your car. Even after you think you know what it will run. Dialing dead-on means you are not going to give anyone anything. You know it's going to run an 8.52 you put an 8.52 on it. This seems like the logical thing to do, Right? Well maybe. Everone is looking for that little advantage. Besides you are dealing with thousandths of a second,and you really could use that little margin of error. Dialing down means you are going to dial a little lower (faster)than what you think it'll run so you dont breakout, usually a hundreth maybe two. (ex. you think 8.52 but dial 8.50) when you do this you are giving your competition .02 seconds more to beat you. Dialing Soft means you dial a little higher (slower) so that you can make up a little for inconsistency or slower reaction times (ex. 8.52 but dial 8.54) here your giving yourself .02 seconds,but be prepared to drive the finish line, because you know you can breakout pass.
It's hard to believe how consistent a race car can be, think about how many moving parts is involved in powering a car down the track, whats going on in the engine,trans, and rear-end and how all that power is being planted to the track and yet there are many cars that run within a hundreth of a second every pass. Sometimes a thousandth
Having a consistent car is great, but that alone still doesn't always win races. It's just less worry. Someone with an inconsistent car can still put you on the trailer, if he knows how to dial it. If he knows his car picks up this much when the weather gets better, or if it falls off this much when the dew falls and the track goes away. So Learn your car
Alot of us have computers and weather stations to tell us how much better or worse the air is getting ,to help us with the dial-in so we can come up with an educated guess. And they really work, but an educated guess is still a guess. You'll know more about your guess right before you get to the finish line, when the only thing you have to go on is where the other guy is compared to you and the finish line. That's usually when you know if you dialed your car right. Fortunately there are a couple things to do at this point. It's called driving the finish line. Get on the brakes if your ahead of him. To keep from breaking out. Make it close, But don't let him back around you. Or stay in the throttle if it's a close race and you don't think you'll breakout. If you know you're on a breakout pass or he's going to beat you to the finish line get on the brakes and let him have the finish line. Chances are he had a better reaction time than you or he's breaking out. There are many different scenarios to driving the finish line, but I hope you get the idea. The hardest part is all this happens in the last few feet of the race track. It takes practice.I know this is short. There is still alot to add and I will try to do it later. Sorry about the grammar and punctuation. Should have paid more attention in school. I was probably looking at Hot Rod magazines that day.
